by Jon Styf
The Tennessee House voted Thursday to allow the Tennessee Department of Tourism to keep contracts hidden for up to 10 years for events such as a Super Bowl.
House Bill 1692 expands the number of records that can be kept concealed and the length of time.
Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, presented the bill as a way to keep “trade secrets and negotiations” private as the state works to bring the Super Bowl to Nashville after new Nissan Stadium is scheduled to open in 2028, 2029 or 2030.
The vote came as a groundbreaking ceremony for the new stadium was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Farmer claimed the bill “helps keep our taxes low and keep everything running smooth” but did not back up those claims. Tennessee committed a $500 million subsidy for construction of new Nissan Stadium along with significant tax captures that contribute to an estimated $3.1 billion fund to pay off bonds and contribute to future maintenance and infrastructure at the site.
Economists have consistently shown publicly subsidized stadiums and events such as the Super Bowl do not bring the promised tax benefits to cities and states.
Economist Brad Humphreys of West Virginia University recently explained the system of the NFL promising a Super Bowl in exchange for a publicly funded stadium deal and promising benefits that are not fulfilled from the game.
“Peer-reviewed academic research shows hosting the Super Bowl has no tangible economic impact on the economy of the host city,” Humphreys wrote. “The game has been played since the 1960s and moves around every year. This provides an ideal situation for comparing local economic outcomes when a city hosts the Super Bowl compared to years when the game was not played in the city.
“The reason hosting the game provides no tangible economic benefits is that it is a single game. While the game clearly draws a lot of people from out of town to the host city, the cities that host the Super Bowl are all large tourist destinations in their own right.”
Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, pointed out that the state only requires contracts to be maintained for six years after their completion, so a loophole in the law would allow a contract to be destroyed before the 10 years is up.
“Call me old fashioned, but I believe that the public, taxpayer and our constituents, deserve to know what the state is spending money on and this diminishes transparency,” Behn said.
Tennessee Lookout reported that the only known time a Super Bowl contract was exposed publicly came in Minneapolis. That contract included free police escorts for team owners, 35,000 free parking spots and free presidential suites.
Farmer cited a “mega-event fund” but said Tennessee needed the rule to remain competitive for a Super Bowl.
“We’re trying to negotiate with businesses to bring big things to the state,” Farmer said. “We’re not trying to hide things. We’re definitely not trying to pay people. We’re not going to put people in posh hotel rooms and put them in private jets. We are not Washington, D.C. We are smart with our money here in Tennessee.”
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
The Virginia legislature just showed some fiscal conservatism today and removed a shiny new stadium from budget consideration there. But, Shhhhh! it’s run by Democrats….
NOTHING is good about this bill. I used to live in Davidson CO.,, Many in Nashville are not for Government paying for sports. This is just a way to hide it for 10 t=years. If this is really good for the city, WHY HIDE IT>
Sensible people want wise public policy. I would guess that most people want wise public policy. People who professionally study things like this, who really can be called experts, say (as the story reports) that ‘big events’ do not benefit the host city any if at all. (“Peer-reviewed academic research shows hosting the Super Bowl has no tangible economic impact on the economy of the host city, . . . ”) So, I will argue that we should all listen to the economic science.
One of the sponsors of the bill said, “We’re trying to negotiate with businesses to bring big things to the state, . . . .” He also said, “We’re not trying to hide things.” But the bill IS trying to hide things—that is the purpose of the bill.
My word, the State of Tennessee has already given the owners of this NFL professional football team hundreds of millions of dollars in financial assistance! Now, these people want the State of Tennessee to conceal their finances from public scrutiny (they call it “trade secrets and negotiations . . . ”). What will these people want next? Egg in their beer? The legal power to tax? The legal power to allow their corporate board of directors to enact law concerning anything pertaining to the NFL and the Tennessee Titans? Talk about corporate hubris!
I am politically conservative and a Republican. I doubt that ANYONE in the Tennessee General Assembly is more politically conservative or Republican than me. But sorry folks, I agree with the Democrat representative on this issue. The State of Tennessee should ALWAYS have full and timely access to the books and records of the NFL and the Tennessee Titans concerning public funds used to provide assistance to this corporation. That should be inherent in ‘the deal’ whenever public money is used to benefit private business entities in our State. And the PUBLIC should ALSO have full and immediate access to this information as well. After all, it is the public’s money that is being expended. If the NFL and the Tennessee Titans do not like such a policy, they are always free to leave and go somewhere else. Let them go bankrupt some other city and State.
If there is one bill this session which should have caused real conservatives to “raise hell to the rafters”, this is it. Andrew Farmer needs to be primaried at the next opportunity!
Remember THIS???
“Tennessee taxpayers deserve a transparent and open government,” Bill Lee
Rinos strike again
So much for transparency in government. Now they can hide critical information instead of just twisting the information into a pretzel. I am ashamed of this bill.